UNC chancellor sued for academic probe information

Published: Friday, January 24, 2014 at 08:49 AM.

RALEIGH — A Raleigh newspaper is suing the chancellor at the University of North Carolina for information about athletic and academic standards.

The News & Observer of Raleigh on Thursday sued UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt for access to a spreadsheet or database with information that could explain the beginning of the problems.

"The origin of the no-show classes remains a mystery, and these documents might shed some light on this," John Drescher, executive editor, said Thursday.

Joel Curran, the school's vice chancellor for communications and public affairs, says to reveal the information would violate students' rights to privacy.

"We respect the rights of the news media to seek public records," Curran said. "However, in this case, we feel strongly that the records in question are protected by the federal privacy law, and we will vigorously defend the privacy rights of our students."

Folt on Thursday publicly accepted the university's responsibility for bogus classes benefiting student athletes that were offered through the African and Afro-American Studies Department. She acknowledged a failure of academic oversight.

Investigations have revealed that about 200 lecture-style classes were offered in the department as far back as the mid-1990s where there is little indication of instruction.

RALEIGH — A Raleigh newspaper is suing the chancellor at the University of North Carolina for information about athletic and academic standards.

The News & Observer of Raleigh on Thursday sued UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Carol Folt for access to a spreadsheet or database with information that could explain the beginning of the problems.

"The origin of the no-show classes remains a mystery, and these documents might shed some light on this," John Drescher, executive editor, said Thursday.

Joel Curran, the school's vice chancellor for communications and public affairs, says to reveal the information would violate students' rights to privacy.

"We respect the rights of the news media to seek public records," Curran said. "However, in this case, we feel strongly that the records in question are protected by the federal privacy law, and we will vigorously defend the privacy rights of our students."

Folt on Thursday publicly accepted the university's responsibility for bogus classes benefiting student athletes that were offered through the African and Afro-American Studies Department. She acknowledged a failure of academic oversight.

Investigations have revealed that about 200 lecture-style classes were offered in the department as far back as the mid-1990s where there is little indication of instruction.

About 500 grade changes were suspected or confirmed to be authorized through the department.

Last year, a report from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools said nearly half of the students signed up for those classes were student-athletes. Eighty-eight were football players while 22 were men's basketball players.